COMPETITION RULES
• USA Ultimate Official Rules of Ultimate, 11th Edition
o Modifications: 20-yard end zones; "contact" marking violation call
• All games to 15, point-cap at 17.
• Halftime is 10 minutes.
• Each team has two timeouts per half.
• Regardless of how many timeouts a team has used before overtime, during overtime each team has one timeout.
• Overtime: A game is in overtime if tied at one point less than original game total (e.g., in a game to 15 goals, overtime occurs when the score reaches 14-14).
• Soft time cap: Goes on 20 minutes before the hard cap. Add two points to higher score after first score after soft time cap. Game ends when first team reaches new game total or when first team reaches 15 or more ahead by at least two points, whichever comes first.
• Caps do not affect timeouts.
• Hard caps will not be used in the Pro Flight play-in games, semifinals or finals.
USA Ultimate Triple Crown Tour
The USA Ultimate Triple Crown Tour is a competition structure, introduced in 2013, for the USA Ultimate club season, including the summer regular season and the fall Championship Series for the men’s, mixed and women’s divisions. Teams in this structure qualify into one of four "Flights" based on their finish in the most recent Championship Series. Qualification for the 2016 National Championships means that all participating teams have earned their way into one of the two top Flights (Pro or Elite) for 2017.
At the 2016 National Championships, the top 8 finishers will comprise the 2017 Pro Flight. Pro Flight teams will also earn bids to the 2017 U.S. Open Championships and the 2017 Pro Flight Finale. The bottom eight teams at Nationals will be placed into the Elite Flight for the 2017 Triple Crown Tour and will earn bids to the 2017 Elite-Select Challenge and 2017 Pro-Elite Challenge events.
Placement Games
Schedule Clarifications
Pro-Flight Qualification
• 5th Semis Bracket:
o 5* through 8* are quarterfinal losers in order of post-regionals ranking.
• 9th Quarters Bracket:
o 9* through 12* are pre-quarters losers in order of post-regionals ranking.
o 13* through 16* are initially the pool play losers in order of post-regionals ranking.
o 13* and 14* are winners of the 4th place crossover games (can be swapped if it results in fewer pool play rematches).
o 15* and 16* are losers of the 4th place crossover games (can be swapped if it results in fewer pool play rematches).
• Pro Flight Play-In:
o Each fifth-place semifinal loser will match up against a ninth-place semifinal winner (can be swapped if it results in fewer pool play rematches) to compete for one the final two spots in the 2017 Pro Flight. Winners of these two games will qualify for the last two spots in the Pro Flight.